Research on chloride ion diffusivity of concrete subjected to CO2environment

Carbonation is a widespread degradation of concrete and may be coupled with more severe degradations. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the effect of carbonation on chloride ion diffusion of concrete. The characteristic of concrete after carbonation was measured, such as carbonation depth, strength and pore structure. Results indicated that carbonation depth has a good linear relation with square root of carbonate time, and carbonation can improve compressive strength, but lower flexural strength. Results about pore structure of concrete before and after carbonation have shown that carbonation could cause a redistribution of the pore sizes and increase the proportion of small pores. It also can decrease porosities, most probable pore size and average pore diameters. Chloride ion diffusion of concrete after carbonation was studied through natural diffusion method and steady state migration testing method respectively. It is supposed that the chloride ion concentration of carbonation region is higher than that of the sound region because of the separation of fixed salts, and chloride ion diffusion coefficient was increased due to carbonation action evidently.